Uphaar fire tragedy: Delhi HC issues bailable warrant against a convict for non-appearance

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued a bailable warrant against one of the convicts in Uphar evidence tampering case for his non-appearance.

The high court had issued a notice to PP Batra on the petition moved by the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) against the trial court’s judgement reducing his sentence in the case.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav,  issued a bailable warrant of Rs 10,000 against him for his absence in the petition filed by AVUT. The bench has granted a time of eight weeks to other respondents to file their replies and status reports on the petition.

The bench noted that the trial court record had been received. On the other hand, the bench also issued a notice on the petition moved by Sushil Ansal, another convict in the Uphar Evidence Tampering case.

Sushil Ansal had also pleaded to the court to direct AVUT to give security/undertaking to the tune of Rs 3 crores as the fine deposited by the petitioner till the disposal of the present petition before the court.

The trial court had passed a judgement on 18^th July, 2022, which upheld the conviction awarded to the petitioner and on 19^th July, 2022, reduced his imprisonment sentence to the period undergone, subject to the payment of Rs 3 crores within seven days.

Sushil Ansal has challenged the judgement of the trial court that an Appellate Court hearing the “criminal’s appeal” must apply its independent mind and record its own findings on the basis of the evidence assessment by itself. 
The appeal, moved through advocate Gautam Khazanchi, stated that mere reproduction of the assessment of the Trial Court is not sufficient and cannot be sustained. In the said case, the Appellate Court has erred in law by mechanically adopting the reasoning (s) provided by the Trial Court, which is erroneous and contrary to the provisions of the law. 
It is also contended that the Appellate Court has not dealt with the contentions raised by the petitioner in the impugned judgement and the same has caused a “grave miscarriage of justice.”.

The bench has listed both petitions for hearing on 13^th December, 2022, in the regular list. The matter related to the appearance of PP Batra has been listed in the advance list.
Earlier, the AVUT moved Delhi HC against the trial court order that reduced the jail terms of the Ansal Brothers in the Evidence Tampering Case linked to the Uphaar Fire Tragedy of 1997 that claimed 59 lives and injured over 100 people.